Cape weathers storms, beats Charter 18-6 for girls' lacrosse title

Photo by: Dan CookThe Cape Henlopen girls' lacrosse team defeated the Charter School 18-6 to win their sixth straight DIAA State Tournament title May 28.

Coach P.J. Kesmodel was asked by reporters after Cape won its sixth straight Delaware State championship if it ever gets old and he joked, “Yes it does. I turn 71 on Saturday. I don’t know how many more seasons I have left in me - maybe just next year?”

The win extended Cape’s unbeaten streak in Delaware to 74 games going back to the 2009 season when Saint Andrew's beat them twice; Cape beat Saint Andrew's in the state title game.

Kesmodel came to the beach to retire with five Maryland state titles in his back pocket including one in boys' lacrosse. NCAA champion Maryland’s head coach Cathy Reese is a former high school player for P.J. The lax landscape is littered with Kesmodel success stories.

"I think my coaching strength is mostly as a manager and letting other people use their coaching talents,” Kesmodel said at a recent practice. "And I know players and their talents and try to get them in the right places. And it helps if you have great kids as well."

Cape took three body shots in the first nine minutes of the championship game on goals by Morgan Lamey and Alex Mash, trailed 3-0 and looked like a team playing on a six-day delay.

“I honestly wasn’t worried,” Kesmodel said. “Last year in the semifinals we trailed Ursuline 3-0 then just went to work and won easily. There are some lacrosse games you just have to be patient."

Cape came back to tie the game at 3 but Charter, a very fast and athletic team, scored the next two to grab a lead of 5-3 with seven minutes left in the first half.

A Lizzie Frederick goal made it 5-4 and opened the floodgates of a 15-1 Cape run that saw the Vikings run the clock for the third straight time in the tournament.

Allie Yeager went into beast mode once she got cranking, scoring four goals in the game. Lexi Woodruff scored three while Jordan Brown, Kat Judge and Sarah Tappan each had two. Frederick, Alison Palmer, Tess Bernheimer, Karalyn Joseph and Korinne Lemaire each scored single goals.

Sam Broadhurst, a junior, won her second state title as the starting goaltender.

Notes: Sarah Tappan became only the second Cape player to score over 60 goals in a season. Anna Frederick holds the school record with 81. Amanda Smith and Riley Wagner were moved to defense from midfield this season, giving Cape what Kesmodel said was his most athletic defense ever. “They were both great the entire season,” Kesmodel said. Maggie Delp was the starting goalie on the 2012 championship team, then moved out to defense. Maggie is also part of the state championship field hockey run and will play field hockey at Delaware. Senior Lindsay Voss makes it three Voss girls - Khara, Gina, Lindsay - who have been on state championship teams. In fact, there has never been a state championship team without a Voss girl.